Bad Poet's Confession

 

Writing American poetry and prose holds a special place in my life. I've been writing since the beginning of my teens. And much of what I've learned over the years is self-taught. I'm not a "Homer" though. 

Working with different poetic structures, incorporating meter into free verse works, experimenting with sonic while focusing on prosody are some of my favorite pass times. 

Not everything I write is good but not everything is meant to be good. I get rebellious and break the rules- many people do. And usually when those moments or instances occur there is typically something deeper going on with me. That something is called writer's block and breaking the rules helps to break free from the blinds of a blank page or mental blank.    

There are several occasions where I'll compose a couple stanzas or strophes and find myself stuck pondering on where to go next- I'm stuck. When this happens implementing some form of word association or free writing truly helps. 

For instance, I'll take the last word from the final line of the last strophe I wrote and begin writing whatever comes to mind. Sometimes I may have three strophes in a row that begin with the last word from the previous one. It's a fun exercise that doesn't need a format and you can truly move you write.  On that note, I'll close this blog post with an old cliche` "try it, you'll like it". 

Reality

What do I want any given person to read when stumbling into my realm, my blog. Should it flow to destiny or the instrument used initially to draw the universe? Snoopy’s typewriter growing wings and flying across a cotton candy blue sky, in a wannabe 3D fantasy- promoting books or self-help.

I’m about self-help and poetry. I’m about self-help and prose. My innermost self, outermost self and the little “beacon” motivating “my” everything. Notice, I take ownership of the reason I’m here: my id. 

Blogging is journaling so don’t sue me because I’m not fluent in cosmic propaganda; Pluto losing its planetary status decades ago. Too far away to retain classification-too cold; too small.

 And “reality therapy” getting tossed aside for Toxic Psychology. I could truly go with William Glasser’s “Reality Therapy” certification program. 

Everybody is running around on pollutants proclaiming “toxic” and whining about yesterday, whining about mommy and daddy thirty years ago- blah, blah, blah. Why lose reality, why lose the here and now, why lose the future with its possibles. Toxic psychology is like someone having an addictive personality. Afterall, both root in addiction. 

People are getting slammed about choices they make but they’re making those choices from information they consume from some down and dirty environments. They don’t have the skills or knowledge to make “good” decisions. And they’ve got to survive. It’s raw oppression. I truly believe we need “Reality Therapy” in play. Don't rule out William Glasser. 

edited 6/25/2026 @10:49PM CST

Journaling

Journaling; blog, blog. Blog, blog. Blog almost makes me laugh out loud thinking about free writing. Some of the articles or posts explaining ways to practice free writing state to set a timer for x number of minutes and just write the first thing that comes to mind, even if it is just one word. Write that same word until the timer goes off or another word surfaces. It’s fun.

When thinking about what the outcome of a personal free writing session would be, I can see an entire page of the word “blank”- step over to word association and come up with “blank page”- go one more and come out with “blank page white background”. And that is a healthy association, cryptic but normal. 

Struggling with writer’s block is not a pleasant experience- it is frustrating when every time you look at a blank page your brain decides to hibernate. Especially when you love writing no matter how bad some works may be, you still love when the words come together like a beautiful sunrise.

When searching for the light in the darkness of writer’s block, free association writing and word association exercises can help your conscious-self open your unconscious mind whatever conscience. Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud’s work on unconsciousness lives in tools we can use to keep moving forward with ourselves and our work. 

Free Writing + Word Association = Writing

       

                                                              

           

Free Writing Authenticity

Questioning the authenticity of any free association write is reasonable. There’s time to think about a prompt you’ve created for yourself or a prompt you chose to write about in exercise. Holding thoughts during writing is not uncommon; it’s well implemented in poetics. Poetry in its own uniqueness requires keeping things concealed while aesthetically describing what is being held in the shadows, the arcane. Could something you are unaware of be influencing you? Sure.  

How often does anyone just write freely without constraint? There are word choices to make, punctuation to consider; the audience and the impact words may have on them. Writer's want to engage readers and that takes planning just like outlining an essay or a chapter for a novel.

Free writing or steam of consciousness exercises aren't used for writing the blog post or novel, they're used more for self-exploration. To help discover things that may otherwise go unnoticed. It's about opening yourself up and letting words or phrases flow freely.

For example, the following photo was taken about seven years ago during the "golden hour" on a site where an old house was being demolished. At that time the scene triggered my creative thinking process. It still does. 

It's symbolic of constraint and love and the shovel handle still reminds me of a pencil- "we've got to write ourselves out of this bind we've got ourselves into." These were some of my first thoughts, like love at first sight. Even though the blog post is intentional, a good prompt can still promote 20 minutes of "stream of consciousness writing." Don't be afraid to write or release what any given prompt brings to mind- dropping your guard opens the road to authentic free writing.

edited, 06/16/2026

Free Write

Blank pages stare at me; I wonder if I can get this post written before leaving for work this morning. Okay, what’s the blog about- Free Writing/Free Association. Yes! That is the answer to this blank page- this mental blank drawn in the face of time constraints. Free Writing. It’s an excellent avenue to explore when an empty page stares you down like a bandit in an alley out to take your livelihood for a ride or empty your pockets and leave you standing naked. Exposed. Like prose.

Exposed. Thinking. Do I want to be exposed? Do I want to feel exposed? Can I truly write whatever comes to mind, truly. I’m really thinking about this trying to answer a question. Stop. Think. Naked. Where it’s at. Word association and Free writing can complement one another. Work hand in hand. Aid the writer in discovery, exploring possibles, finding what’s behind the façade. Do we trust ourselves enough to be honest with ourselves? Are we afraid of what we might find? If we let our thoughts flow freely into word possibilities or question possibles, will we surrender self-control; that self-control? Restrictive. 

Restrictive. Let your tongue move freely and your fingers glide across the keyboard as you uncover things about yourself that even you didn’t know were there. There is a box with a hidden dream inside waiting for you to open; all you need to do is begin. Let the words flow and begin your journey. Yes. Begin. Free Writing.